Donald Trump-Founded Truth Social's Head Of Engineering Steps Down: All You Need To Know

Since its launch in February 2022, Truth Social has faced challenges in achieving substantial user growth.

The head of engineering responsible for overseeing the development of former US President Donald Trump's Truth Social app has confirmed his resignation, dealing a setback to the project, reported Reuters. Alex Gleason's departure comes at a time of ongoing uncertainty for Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind the app. Truth Social was launched as a means for Trump to connect with his base after being banned from major social media platforms following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

Gleason, the founder of Soapbox Technology, a provider of open-source technology for decentralised social media platforms, revealed in an interview that he is leaving TMTG to dedicate himself fully to Soapbox. His focus will be on developing technology that enables interconnectivity among multiple decentralised platforms.

TMTG hired Gleason in January 2022 to adapt Soapbox's technology to suit its requirements, ultimately utilising it as the front-end technology for the Truth Social app – the part of the app that users see and interact with. The TMTG representative did not respond to requests for comment regarding Gleason's departure.

Since its launch in February 2022, Truth Social has faced challenges in achieving substantial user growth. Furthermore, Trump has since been reinstated on widely-used platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and Truth Social's user base remains significantly smaller compared to the growth projections TMTG had outlined in November 2021. At that time, the company had informed investors that the app would attract 56 million users by 2024 and 81 million users by 2026. According to Similarweb data, Truth Social currently has an estimated 607,000 monthly users.

As of July 17, Trump had 5.71 million followers on Truth Social, in contrast to the more than 88 million followers he had on Twitter before his suspension.

TMTG had previously announced plans to go public by merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), a blank-check firm, in October 2021. However, the merger has faced uncertainty due to ongoing investigations by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), leading to delays in its completion. A recent filing revealed that DWAC has reached a tentative agreement with the SEC staff, pending approval of the terms by the SEC.